Lawyer SEO – The Quick (but complete) Guide

Lawyer SEO – The Complete Guide

There are several steps that go into SEO for lawyers. Some SEO services only offer one or a few, but each one is an important part of the process and should be completed together.

Website Audit

A website audit is a detailed analysis of your existing website. It tells you how your existing website is ranking in searches, how many new clients you’re getting if there are any technical problems with your website that hurt its rankings or usability, and how it compares against your competitors.

The whole point of the website audit is to tailor your SEO plans for your needs. SEO is highly individualized and what’s right for one law firm’s website might not be right for another’s. If someone is selling you a cookie cutter plan without analyzing your website, you probably won’t get the results you need.

Strategy Session

What are your real-world goals for your law firm? What kind of clients do you have? What kind of clients do you want? Are you going to expand or niche your practice areas? Who are your competitors and how do you differentiate against them?

SEO is part of your overall marketing strategy, so it needs to be aligned with your firm’s big picture strategies.

Website Creation or Upgrades

The first piece of work product is getting a solid website in place. This will include a home page, your practice areas, and a contact page. Depending on what you already have, this might mean starting from scratch or improving your existing site.

In addition to basic content, we’ll also put a number of technical improvements in place. This includes making your website run faster (this helps in search results) and adding tracking tools so you can see how your SEO is doing and we know what to improve next.

On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization is all about improving your current website. This might include updating your content to better tailor for targeted keywords. It can also include things like making your website easier to navigate so potential clients can find what they’re looking for. This is an ongoing process as there will always be something that can be made better based on the new data that comes in.

Off-Page Optimization

Off-page optimization is about what goes on off of your website. This mainly includes things like getting links from other websites and directories. It also often includes creating a blog targeting highly-tailored, long-tail keywords that point back to your main website.

There are two goals in this process. One is to give people more ways to find you. The second is to convince search engines that all your links mean you have a solid reputation and should be ranked higher.

Can You Do Your Own Lawyer SEO?

You can try, but you probably won’t like the results. Anyone can throw up a WordPress website, but there’s only so many spots in the top rankings. It’s just like the law school exam curve when only so many people could get an A no matter how good their answers were.

SEO is more than just putting up more content. It takes technical knowledge, and what works is constantly evolving. When you have a busy caseload, you don’t have time to keep track of Google’s latest updates. Plus when you get behind on your blogging, it can make your website look less active and send your search rankings down.

Remember, the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. The same thing applies to any other professional service. Focus on practicing law and increasing your billable time, and let a professional law firm SEO company do what they do best.